Voices from the Past – Britain’s Wartime Evacuees, The People, Places and Stories of the Evacuations Told Through the Accounts of Those Who Were There

World War 2 was the first war to include the widespread deliberate targeting of civilians, and particularly of children, anywhere in accessible enemy territory. Millions were evacuated from British cities to the greater safety of the countryside and the more remote areas. This large scale movement of people is reviewed in this study, using the voices of those who were there. Highly Recommended.

NAME: Voices from the Past – Britain's Wartime Evacuees, The People,
Places and Stories of the Evacuations Told Through the Accounts of
Those Who Were ThereFILE: R2438AUTHOR: Gillian MawsonPUBLISHER: Pen & Sword, frontlineBINDING: hard back PAGES: 214PRICE: £19.99GENRE: Non FictionSUBJECT: WWII, World War 2, World War Two, Second World War, Home
Front, total war, civilians, children, terror bombing, place of safetyISBN: 978-1-84832-441-1IMAGE: B2438.jpgBUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/zgnl9fnLINKS: DESCRIPTION: World War 2 was the first war to include the widespread
deliberate targeting of civilians, and particularly of children,
anywhere in accessible enemy territory. Millions were evacuated from
British cities to the greater safety of the countryside and the more
remote areas. This large scale movement of people is reviewed in
this study, using the voices of those who were there.
Highly Recommended. In 1939, Britain braced for a German terror campaign on a
significantly greater scale than the use of terror bombing by Germany
in WWI. The added dimension was an expectation that the Nazis would
use poison gas. The only reason that the Germans did not employ poison
gas was a fear of the retaliation by Britain with the same weapons.
It was a justified fear because Britain responded directly to German
bombs by carrying out attacks with more planes and bigger bombs on
German cities in retaliation for the German blitz attacks on Britain.
Poison gas was only used in the concentration camps where German
prisoners were unable to retaliate in kind.The huge movement of people out of the most vulnerable areas is
difficult to comprehend today. It was a planned and orderly process
that saw thousands of unaccompanied children sent by train and bus to
rural and remote urban areas to live with total strangers. There were
also children who relocated with their mothers or some other non-
combatant relative. The movement was not just within the UK. Some
children with or without accompanying adults made the perilous
journey by sea to Canada, South Africa and other distant locations of
the Empire. In the process, some were lost when their ships were sunk
by U-boats.The author has provided the most comprehensive study of this process
of wartime migration that has been attempted to date. The book may
well become the definitive work on the subject. The personal
recollections collected provide a wide selection of experiences that
are sad, happy, but also moving.